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Results for 'carers'

This briefing reviews recent research on social care support provision for certain people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, who are often seldom heard in mainstream services. It draws out messages for social care micro-providers and social care commissioners, focusing on two areas: the marginalising dynamics in mainstream, statutory social care support provision for certain people with protected characteristics; and how local community, specialist or small-scale services are responding to unmet need for support and advice among marginalised groups. The majority of research identified looked at issues and experiences of black and minority ethnic (BME) communities, with a large number of studies dedicated to understanding the role of family carers, particularly from South Asian backgrounds. A smaller body of work on lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) older people and carers was found. Similarly, a number of research studies on support for and by refugees and asylum seekers were identified. Some research on the role of faith was also found. By comparing research findings across several groups, common issues about engagement with mainstream services and the function of community based and specialist support became apparent. The main themes and messages coming from the research for commissioners and providers focus on: strategies for responding to marginalisation from the mainstream, including assets and community mobilisation, reciprocity and social inclusion, informal networks and self-organisation; accessing and engaging with mainstream provision, highlighting issues of fear of discrimination, uniformity and homogenisation, language and communication; relationship dynamics between large, traditional mainstream and small, specialist community, including capacity building and partnerships, advocacy and accessing mainstream support, choice and voice; understanding informal support in diverse communities, in which a key role is played by culture, stigma and shame, well-being, identity and resilience, and faith; and effective approaches, including emotional and social support, and non-conventional, networked and holistic support.

This study highlights an overlooked component of social cohesion – everyday acts of informal help and support within communities. While such acts are often mundane and practical - small loans, lifts, help with shopping - they can also have a significant emotional dimension. Although these acts are often simple, navigating them is not: the researchers find that opposing moral forces complicate this picture. Concepts of the ‘deserving’, of stoicism and the imperative to help others all feature in this study. Key points include: the character of informal support among family, friends and even strangers is shaped by the social and physical characteristics of areas but also by the narratives that attach to them; in the often unspoken moral framework underpinning these interactions, both reciprocity (giving back) and mutuality (where both parties benefit from the interaction) are important elements; public policy needs to recognise both the interactional complexity and the emotional significance of everyday help and support. In the context of political debate around austerity and the scope of the state, the infrastructural qualities of such relationships need to be recognised. While such support makes possible other aspects of social life, it also requires maintenance and repair in its own right.

A summary of a study examining low-level or everyday help and support and the role it can play in allowing people to lead ‘liveable’ lives. The study explored the ways in which the need for (and availability of) such support is shaped by social context, biography and relationships. It also looked at how support actually happens (or not) and how it is sustained over time. Key findings included: small acts of help, support and kindness were often mundane and barely noticed (even by those involved), but had fundamental consequences for individual and community well-being; although this everyday help was often practical, it could have important emotional consequences; individual circumstances, life stage and life events (e.g. parenting, ill health, retirement) created needs for informal help and support, but also ways of potentially meeting those needs; powerful emotions and moral considerations attached to these apparently straightforward acts, particularly notions of reciprocity and who should be considered deserving of help; many of the perceived risks of helping or being helped related to people’s concerns about their self-image or how others saw them; collectively, these acts and relationships of everyday help and support had an ‘infrastructural’ quality - they made possible other aspects of social life, but needed attention, maintenance and repair in their own right. The briefing concludes that while it is not possible to legislate for kindness, attempts should be made to avoid damaging – and, where possible, foster and extend – the conditions in which it occurs.

Revitalise provides respite holidays with on-call nursing care for people with disabilities in the UK. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014 its work is underpinned by the belief that everybody needs a break. It aims to improve the quality of life for those living with a disability and also their carers. By providing a guilt- and stress-free break, Revitalise breaks aim to ease the physical and emotional toll caring can take on carers.

A summary of the available evidence regarding the maintenance of resilience in older people, examining some of the factors and experiences that make older people more susceptible to the risk of adverse outcomes and exploring strategies to help build resilience in later life. The key topics covered are: social engagement; resources, including financial resources, housing and age-friendly neighbourhoods; health and disability; cognitive and mental health; and carers. The paper makes a number of recommendations, including: adopt a holistic view of all kinds of vulnerability in later life as the main focus rather concentrating on parts of the problem or parts of the body; make better use of the research evidence to identify problems earlier and to target resources; concentrate more on combating the effects of neighbourhood deprivation; work towards providing an age-friendly environment; facilitate home adaptations, aids and a better range of housing options; and root out ageism among professionals and society in general.

Voluntary Action Rotherham, on behalf of NHS Rotherham CCG, co-ordinates a social prescribing scheme which links patients with long term conditions in primary care and their carers with sources of non-medical support in their community. By connecting people with a range of voluntary and community sector-led interventions, such as exercise/mobility activities, community transport, befriending and peer mentoring, art and craft sessions, carer’s respite, (to name a few), the scheme aims to lead to improved social and clinical outcomes for people with long-term conditions and their carers; more cost-effective use of NHS and social care resources and to the development of a wider, more diverse range of local community services.

Explores disability and care at a national, regional and local authority level in England. The report brings together data from Census 2011, DWP and HSCIC ‘administrative data’, as well as from Wave 6 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, to look at the prevalence of disability, need and care of different types, and to paint a picture of the lives of different groups. In particular, Chapter 3 provides a snapshot of disability and care in the older population in England, identifying key results. Chapter 4 looks in detail at the lives of older people with limited day-to-day activities, from their health characteristics to their living situation. Chapter 5 explores the characteristics of older people receiving unpaid and paid care including the overall adequacy of their care, as well as older people with substantial levels of disability who experience difficulty undertaking three or more ‘activities of daily living’. Chapter 6 explores the interaction of older people experiencing limited day-to-day activities with public support, i.e. disability benefits and the local authority care and support system. Chapter 7 examines the prevalence of unpaid older carers and the outcomes they experience, as well as the extent of local authority support for them. The report shows that around half of the 65+ population in England reported their day-to-day activities were limited. Of the 6.7 per cent of the older population living at home in England who reported difficulty undertaking three or more activities of daily living, around 70,000 did not receive any care, and could therefore be classed as experiencing substantial unmet need. Around 20 per cent of older carers experienced self-care (ADL) difficulties themselves.

A twice-monthly group designed to support male adults in Brighton and Home who are caring for a partner, relative or friend, through coffee mornings and self-determined social activities, provided free of charge. One-to-one support is also provided by the Carers’ Centre and all activities are organised to fit around caring responsibilities and accessibility needs.

An independent evaluation of the Crisis Prevention Programme, which comprised four individual pilot projects operating in four NHS board areas in Scotland and aimed to get support and advice for carers at an early stage, offer them a carer's assessment, reduce the pressure on their health, get them involved in discharge planning and train health and social care professionals in carer awareness. The evaluation found that the programme resulted in many improvements in hospitals, including: professionals were more likely to identify carers at an early stage and put support for them in place at an earlier stage; there were changes to ways of working which benefited carers; carers reported feeling that professionals had more recognition of their expertise in caring and understood their needs as a carer; carers felt more able to have a say in shaping the services they, or the person they cared for, received; and carers were provided with more information, such as being told of their right to a carer's assessment. The evaluation recommended that funding for carer support workers in hospitals continues and that carer awareness training should be mandatory for all healthcare professionals.

STEPS to Stay Independent is a short term housing support service provided to older people in East Sussex, enabling them to retain or regain independent living skills so they can continue to live in their own home or move to one that better meets their needs. It is part of the Supporting People programme in East Sussex, alongside another preventative programme Home Works, and extra care and supported housing.